Stanford interviews top assistant Oliver

4/21/2008 7:38 PM

By JANIE McCAULEY
AP Sports Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -Top Stanford assistant Doug Oliver became the first candidate to interview for the Cardinal's head coaching vacancy Monday.

Oliver just completed his second season as the lead assistant at Stanford, where he also worked in the same capacity from 1986-1998. Athletic director Bob Bowlsby is looking to fill a job that opened when fourth-year coach Trent Johnson left for LSU on April 10.

Oliver, who has 28 years of coaching experience in Division I and 35 years overall, did serve as the team's head coach for part of one game this season.

After Johnson was ejected in the first half of the Cardinal's 82-81 overtime victory over Marquette in the second round of the NCAA tournament last month, Oliver stepped in and led the way in place of Johnson - the Pac-10 coach of the year. That helped the Cardinal reach the regional semifinals for the first time since advancing to the West Regional final in 2001. They went on to be eliminated by Texas.

Oliver, a Bay Area native who graduated from San Jose State in his hometown, has been responsible for developing the Cardinal post players and offensive schemes while also handling scheduling and summer camp planning.

After his first stint at Stanford, Oliver worked as head coach at Idaho State for eight seasons from 1998-2006. He earned the fifth most wins in program history and was the school's third-longest tenured coach.

Oliver worked under former Stanford coach Mike Montgomery - named head coach at Stanford rival California earlier this month - and replaced Montgomery at Boise State when he left to coach Montana. Oliver coached with Johnson at Stanford in 1997-98 and coached Johnson at Boise State for two years.

Johnson's departure caught Stanford somewhat off guard. His new deal at LSU apparently came together quickly after he met with school officials at the Final Four in San Antonio. That was after Stanford's 7-foot Lopez twins, Brook and Robin, announced they would declare themselves eligible for the NBA draft and hire agents to forgo their final two years of college eligibility.

Bowlsby said he had planned to sit down with Johnson as soon as the athletic director returned from Tampa, Fla., where the Cardinal women lost to Tennessee in the national championship game on April 8.

The sides had a framework of a deal in place, with Johnson's five-year contract due to expire after next season. Johnson certainly grew tired of waiting for an extension and is set to earn significantly more money in his new position.